Pages

Friday, July 27, 2012

Sepia Saturday: Buy me some peanuts and cracker jack

Sepia Saturday challenges
bloggers to share family history through old photographs.

This post is
dedicated to Kirk Comer of Shenandoah, Virginia. He took an interest in one of
my earlier posts and helped me learn a heckuva lot more about the minor leagues
and my great-uncle Woody.

This week’s Sepia Saturday photo prompt features two bat-and-ball games: cricket and baseball. Do cricket fans rise to
their feet to sing a great song like “Take Me Out to the Ball Game”? At
ballparks across America, everyone knows the words, and no words get more
emphasis than “One – Two – Three strikes, you’re out, at the ol’ ball game!”

Woody 1926
at the original stadium, Shenandoah, VA

That song was fifteen years old when my great-uncle
Arthur Henry “Woody” Woodring played for the minors, so maybe he
actually had the pleasure of being serenaded by baseball fans during his
six-year run with the Martinsburg (West Virginia) Blue Sox.

Shenandoah shops team 1927
Woody is on the far right, back row
scanned from Shenandoah: A History of Our Team and Its People

Woody worked on the electrical force of the Norfolk
& Western Railroad. How fortunate
for him that the N&W sponsored baseball teams up and down the line.

Photo courtesy of Kirk Comer, Shenandoah, VA
The infield of the old stadium is obvious,
but you might have to work harder to see the fence and grandstand.

Woody was playing on the shops team even while he began
his professional baseball career as a catcher in 1924, evidently playing both
at the same time.

The Blue Sox were part of the Blue Ridge League. This league of six level D (Rookie) teams
from Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Maryland formed in 1915, disbanded during
World War I because of lack of players, but revived itself in 1920.

In those days, the team with the best record for the
season became the league champions. It
was Woody’s first year on the team but the Martinsburg Blue Sox’s third
straight championship title.

1924 Martinsburg Blue Sox
Woody is on the front row, far right
Photo courtesy of blueridgeleague.org

The play-off system didn’t start until 1928, the same
year that some major league teams started affiliating with the minor
teams. Woody’s team was affiliated with
what was then the Philadelphia Athletics.
Other teams were affiliated with the New York Yankees, Cleveland
Indians, Detroit Tigers, St. Louis Cardinals, and Washington Senators.

The story that we had a professional ballplayer in the
family never seemed REAL until I saw Woody’s stats for the first time. His
weakest year was 1926 when he played only 12 games in the season. It appears that he fell to the number 3 spot
of a 4-man squad of catchers, but still he recorded the best fielding
percentage of the group. However, I
don’t know the full story. It’s possible
he was injured, or maybe the organization was grooming the latest phenom.

Martinsburg Blue Sox 1925
Woody is in the middle, front row, right behind the young boy
Photo courtesy of blueridgeleague.org

Woody’s best season was definitely his last, 1929. He
played in 95 of at least 112 games (based on the highest number of games played
by others on his team). In his 327 times
at bat, he hit 103 singles, 19 doubles, 5 triples, and 4 homeruns, earning his
highest Batting Average of .315%. His
Slugging Percentage of .440% put him as the fifth best hitter on his team.

Reading baseball statistics can be mind-numbing, but a
simplified list of career totals might be easy to handle. They are neither impressive nor unimpressive
since there is nothing to compare them to, but here they are:

Career BATTING
stats (total for all 6 years)

438 games

1519 plate appearances

1489 at bats

24 runs

409 hits

71 doubles

9 triples

8 homeruns

5 stolen bases

20 walks

2 hit by pitch

8 sacrifice bunts

Career FIELDING
stats (total for 1924-1927) (not sure why other years are not
available)

273 games as catcher

1465 Defensive Chances (put outs + assists + errors)

1232 put outs

203 assists

30 errors

.980% fielding percentage

The Blue Ridge League died a slow death in 1930 when some
teams went bankrupt after the stock market crashed. Woody’s team was one of them that didn’t
survive into the 1930 season, and his career died with it. Whether Woody just wasn’t good enough to be
called up to The Show or whether his young bride, my great-aunt Velma, told him
to come home and stay home will probably never be known.

It's too bad Woody died so young (age 47 in 1951).
It would have been fun to go with him to a game and share some peanuts
and cracker jack. I bet he could tell some stories.

Join the team over at Sepia Saturdaywhere there is
surely something to cheer about.

Baseball is another sport about which I know nothing, so I’m really enjoying getting all these stories. It’s really interesting that you have all the information on Woody, but so sad that he died so young. That first shot is a real ‘action’ stance.

"Take me out to the ball game..." Our Nana taught us that song when we were little. She was a great Mets fan. She never wanted a TV till my Mom said she'd be able to watch the Mets play. ha!Hurray for Woody & his baseball skills.

Baseball stats are even more confusing than cricket averages. I understand the principles of baseball but haven't seen enough to really appreciate it all. We don't get songs at cricket matches - unfortunately just some idiotic chanting.

I try quite frequently but I never quite understand baseball. We don't have songs at cricket matches but there are cricketing songs, not least "Cricket, Lovely Cricket", a calypso written when the West Indies beat England.

A terrific post. I love the name "Blue Sox", so appropriate for the Virginia highlands. Though I watch some MLB, minor league is much more entertaining. The last time I went to an Asheville Tourists game, I sat beside an old guy who knew ALL the player's and game stats. It's an enthusiasm that is sadly disappearing because the players on single A and double AA teams are no longer members of the community like they once were in your Uncle Woody's era.

Search This Blog

Award Free Zone

About Me

My name is Wendy. About twenty years ago, I helped my mother research the Jolletts. Since retiring from teaching, I have expanded my research which I share here. When I’m not looking for my own family, I index for FamilySearch and the Greene County Historical Society.
Welcome to Jollett Etc. Please leave a comment to let me know you were here. If you have more information or believe we are related, EMAIL ME at wendymath at cox dot net